Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

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admin
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Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#1 Post by admin » Sun Sep 18, 2016 4:03 pm

Dear forum members,

I have removed a complete thread and would like to explain the reason.

Yesterday a forum member posted polarized light images of crystals and it turned out that these images belonged to another member. The poster denied having plagiarized these images and the response from other forum members was critical. That the intentional publication of another person's work under one's own name is totally unacceptable is, I hope, shared by all forum members.

The original explanation by the poster on why the pictures are the same was totally not credible and scientifically not possible. My initial perception was, just like other members, that the images were indeed deliberately plagiarized.

The poster of the plagiarized images posted an apology today explaining how the pictures found their way into the forum. I am publishing this quote here, in order to give the poster a chance to apologize himself in this forum and to re-establish his credibility. (I have deleted the original thread containing this apology, and this is the reason why I publish it here).
Members,
I have made a terrible and unforgiveable cock-up. I have just looked through my polarized slides and have found one which is very similar to the rectangle one, but
as for the others I do not hold them. So Vasselle my humble and unpretentious apology to you those are your photos and are NOT repeat NOT mine.

The mistake I have made is as follows;
In Picasa 3 I have a section named MY POLARIZED SLIDES and a sub folder named OTHER POLARIZED what have done is posted the said photos into the wrong folder
and because I knew I had a slide similar to the rectangle crystal I without thinking posted what I had in MY Polarized Slides, a stupid and irresponsible post.
So again Vasselle I am sorry for the problems caused. It will never happen again.

[... removed by admin ...]

So that's all there is members. A stupid mistake.
Mistakes, assuming that it was one, do happen. I acknowledge, that there are bitter feelings on both sides about this issue.

But I can not accept personal attacks in this forum, statements that might be considered threats, as well as swear words, and this is the reason, why I censored part of the quote above and why I have deleted the whole thread. The statistics say that this forum is read by about 250 people every day. Even if only a handful of people are posting regularly, the audience is much larger. All forum members should be aware of this and think twice before they post. This forum has a personal messaging feature and I request that personal issues be discussed over this system and not in public.

I do not want to play judge and decide which posts of the thread should stay and which ones should go. Someone is always going to feel treated unfairly this way. Solution: I deleted the whole thread.

------

Independent of this event, I have received requests over the past months to have forum members blocked or deleted, because they (apparently) have not been conducting nicely to others. I have also had requests by forum members to have their account cancelled and all of their posts removed because they have been attacked (or what they perceive to be attacks) by other members. I find myself in a difficult situation: on one hand, I do not want to block members, on the other hand, I do understand it if some people start to feel afraid of posting something, because they might be criticized for it. These people must also be protected.

1. If you feel emotional, allow your emotions to cool before you post.
2. NO swear words.
3. Be aware that irony is not always understood by other people.
4. NO personal attacks.
5. If you wrote something that you regret later, then there is no possibility to delete the post by yourself. The system does not allow it, to prevent the breaking of the thread. You can, however, edit it.

Let's get emotional about the beauty of nature and about the things we observe through the eyepieces, and not about forum posts. We all share a great hobby and I really hope that this forum brings people together, and not apart.

Happy microscopy.
Oliver.
Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.
(Bertrand Russell)

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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#2 Post by zzffnn » Sun Sep 18, 2016 4:31 pm

Thank you, Oliver, for making this forum a good place to be in. I support your decision and approach.

Deleting individual posts and threads is a more gentle and considerate approach than banning a member for some time, though it takes moderator more time, especially when the member refuses to behave. I applaud you for making that decision.
Last edited by zzffnn on Sun Sep 18, 2016 5:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.

JimT
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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#3 Post by JimT » Sun Sep 18, 2016 4:48 pm

Ditto and thanks for posting EM's apology and explanation.

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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#4 Post by mrsonchus » Sun Sep 18, 2016 8:59 pm

Good result Oliver - but has the apology/explanation been edited above - I still can't really understand what is meant by it - maybe I'm just a bit slow but I suspect there's more unsaid than said.

Anyway - all's well that ends well, if that's indeed what has happened. :)
John B

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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#5 Post by carlh6902 » Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:45 pm

As far as responding emotionally, I am probably as guilty as any of the responders to the now-deleted thread. Oliver's advice to cool down before posting is indeed good advice. Based on the OP's explanation of what happened, and not knowing what was edited from his explanation, I suppose the OP should get the benefit of the doubt. Had he simply said that from the start, rather than posting the response that he did, the whole thing probably would have went differently.

Carl
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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#6 Post by admin » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:00 pm

Hello,
but has the apology/explanation been edited above - I still can't really understand what is meant by it
I have removed a few lines, which I consider best to be left out, and included [... removed by admin ...] at this place. I request that private issues are left out of the public forum. Except removing these lines, I have not changed anything else. I do not like doing edits like this but if any edits are necessary, then I will indicate this. I will not change the wording of other people, however.

Code: Select all

I still can't really understand what is meant by it
Essentially the images of the other forum member were posted accidentally and it was not intentional re-publication. They were stored in the wrong directory of the computer and so got mixed with the own pictures of the poster.

Things like these do not seem to be so uncommon in forums. I remember a very heated debate in a German speaking microscopy forum a few years ago, where things got very heated up. Even though I was not involved, it was uncomfortable for me as a reader and I have learned from this that it is best to sometimes take a deep breath beforehand - which I admit - is not always easy.

Oliver
Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.
(Bertrand Russell)

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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#7 Post by mrsonchus » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:46 pm

A difficult job for you Oliver, we certainly all appreciate the effort you go to to give us this fine forum and source of likeminded friendships.
:)
John B

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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#8 Post by JimT » Sun Sep 18, 2016 10:52 pm

...we certainly all appreciate the effort you go to to give us this fine forum and source of likeminded friendships.
Ditto again (I think that's redundant) :)

JimT

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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#9 Post by exmarine » Mon Sep 19, 2016 12:31 am

Oliver,
Thank you for allowing my mitigating explanation to be published. Again It was a stupid mistake.
Thank you :shock:
Best regards
exmarine :x

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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#10 Post by apochronaut » Tue Jul 26, 2022 12:31 pm

obviously things would have worked out better for all concerned if everyone wou!d just chill and do some crossword puzzles.

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Re: Plagiarism allegations in the forum and other issues

#11 Post by Javier » Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:58 pm

apochronaut wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 12:31 pm
obviously things would have worked out better for all concerned if everyone wou!d just chill and do some crossword puzzles.
:lol: :lol:

The spam issue is getting out of control...

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